Conditioning -The process of adding C02 to the in beer. -Charlie Popazian. It's not aging or cellaring.

Many times it has been said that bottle conditioning takes one to three weeks. I have posted that I have had fully carbonated beer in four days here a few times and it can excite some people to the verge of flame war. My limited experience has proved different to other's opinions. I'm not saying all brews will work like this. Many would be a waste to even try.

I have never done a day by day tasting like this before. Some of my batches I did not open the first brew for well over a week. All of the bottles that I have opened after four days (one of those days it being in the fridge) the beer was fully carbonated

This brew started at 1.050, was three weeks in primary and finished at 1.010. It was bottled on Sunday with five onces of dextrose. The bottles have been kept at 70f.

Monday--I shook one up well and put in the freezer and then in the fridge for only a few hours total. Some CO2 pressure was released when opening. No carbonation in the beer. It was not very appetizing.

Tuesday--A little more Co2 pressure and some carbonation in the beer. Very enjoyable, decent mouth feel (my best APA yet.) It was shook up and put in a 40f fridge for three hours. I put another one in the fridge for an hour and a half but didn't shake it up. It had less carbonated but still had some.

Wednesday--I put one in a 38f fridge for ten hours. I did not shake it. It had about the same carbonation level as the one I had yesterday. This one tasted a little more green.

Thursday--Done carbonating. Very good head retention and nice lacing. This one I shook up on Tuesday and put it by it's self in a cabinet next to the dish washer.

A little aging would certainly help, none the less a very tasty ale.

I don't know why it works like this for me and not others? Maybe the yeasties just like me.

Anyone who says that full carbonation is not possible in less the a week doesn't know what their talking about. There are no off flavors with this batch. The only thing more time is going to do is meld the different flavors together.

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Edit at One week-I put two in the fridge. Four hours latter I opened the first one. The flavor is a little more blended together, not much. The dry-hoped half of this batch is most likely carbonated but I'll certainly let it age.

When I bottled a stout it tasted whack going into the bottles so I thought it had better condition for a long time. After a week I just could not help myself. I had to cool one and open it for a taste. To my surprise it tasted much better. Sadly I drank the second to last of that batch last night and it hasn't gotten all that much better than the first one yet. It seems that it would have taken months and not just weeks for it to age. That wasn't a very big beer.

I will see how this one has aged in three weeks. Like I said I'm happy how it tastes now at three week. I don't think it tastes green and I like how the hop flavors are right now. Even with it all shook up the yeast doesn't bother me. It would be great if a experienced brewer could taste it but I don't know of any near here. A few experienced beer drinkers will be having a few with me but I can't trust their opinions. They'd say anything for a free beer.

I really can't wait to tasted the other half of this 10 gallon batch. Is still in a better bottle with two onces of cascades.

My house is staying at 70f now and I've not yet turned on the heat. It's one of the perks of living in the far northern reaches of the Mojave desert in a masonry house. The down side is the long hot summer, but hey I love summer.

The one I opened today was not as good but just as carbonated as yesterday's. I did not shake this one up. I put it in the fridge this morning and drank it when I got home form work. A week or two will do some good for sure.

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If the 3 weeks is for aging, why not just leave it in the bucket or carboy longer to age?

The only reason I can think of is that as the yeast clean things up and some byproducts can be released when in a fermenter but in a bottle it would be capped up. Basically I believe if it tastes good and it's done fermenting bottle it, but then again some ales just don't taste good warm and flat.

I drank the last of the four cases of this batch today (except for what I have stashed away for Christmas gifts.) The two I had today were not very much better than the one I had at four days from bottling seen in the pictures. Simply Delicious.

It has cooled down here a lot. We are even having a odd snow storm. My last two batches did not carb as fast.